Consumer market demand for fresh and frozen coated foods have been rapidly expanding in recent years as well as a demand for food products which have reduced oil content. The ability to formulate and apply batter-based coatings and breadings to a wide variety of products continues to be a challenge wherein a substantially oil free adhesive interface batter food product is needed. The market for coated foods is actually the market for various frozen battered and breaded meats and vegetable products intended for both retail and food service distribution. Demands on coated foods, i.e. batter and breadings of various food categories, are related to the lifestyle of the consumer and is driven by the lifestyle of the consumer which has become increasingly more critical of food product content, taste and appearance. One of the most important food chemist's considerations in coated foods is taste and there is no better way to enhance flavors and differentiate foods than with coatings.
Generally there are various definitions for batter-coated foods including interface/adhesion batter. This coating is typically used with a supplemental breading or bread crumb. The added breading is chosen for granulation, color, flavor, crispness and the like which is desired in the finished coated food. The interface coating serves primarily as an adhesive layer between the food surface and the breading.
After application of a coating, food may be either partially or completely cooked by frying or oven heating before being frozen. In some cases, however, cooking at this stage may be excluded entirely. The re-constitution of coated food products can be achieved through frying, oven heating and microwave heating. Presently the, optimum means for reconstituting coated foods is through deep fat frying from temperatures ranging from for example 176.7.degree. to 204.4.degree. C. Rapid heat transfer quickly sets the coating structure allowing little time for access of moisture. The generally undesired moisture is partially removed through exchange with oil during heating. This procedure is the method of choice for interface/adhesion coatings.
Oven heating is primarily used in the home and yields a moderately acceptable product in terms of crispness, flavor and color. However, a change, of temperature of the ovens causes some evaporation drying of the coating resulting in the perception of crispness. Of course this system can be improved by forced air convection type ovens. Coatings for oven use may require the addition of oil and/or browning agents to dry the coating mix and to more closely duplicate a fried appearance and flavor.
Microwave heating of presently available coating systems for reconstitution has not been found to be totally satisfactory. The main hurdle to success has been the basic heating and microwaving transmission which cannot be readily adapted to current coated foods. Reconstitution of heating from within pushes moisture and oil outward; however, the evaporative drying, typical of processing of convention ovens, does not occur. The result is a soggy coating with minimal crispness. Microwave reconstitution will require a unique technology for product development of coated foods.
Critical coating characteristics such as appearance, color, crispness, adhesion and flavor presently depend on batter and breading content additives and method for reconstitution. With the exception of flavor and mouth feel, appearance is most important to the consumer market and is affected by the amount and uniformity of the coating adhering to the food substrate. For example, thicker coatings made from a mixture of waxy rice flour and corn flour are very smooth and lack texture. This is due in part to the formation heavy gelatinized starch film. A thinner, less viscous coating from the same ingredients will allow air bubbles to appear on the surface and result in a more appealing texture.
Cooked color is closely tied with coating appearance. Color results from the absorption of frying oil, the density based on coating thickness and the chemical browning reaction of reducing sugars and protein sources. Color can be controlled by cooking method and medium, condition of the frying oil, ingredient composition and selection of supplemental breadings. In general, frying yields a greater degree of browning than convention oven baking and microwave ovens generally fail in producing adequate browning. Heating time and temperature are directly related to color development. Fried coated foods can also be affected by the type and age of the frying oil.
A lack of crispness, a difficult sensory impression to qualify may be defined either as a chewy toughness or a mushy softness, i.e. crunch vs. munch. A coating should ideally exhibit a structure that sufficiently resists the initial bite but then disappears with a quick melt away in the mouth. Crispness after cooking is a difficult attribute to maintain in a batter/breading system during extended frozen storage times. During frozen storage and transportation is also important for both the breading and the batter coatings to maintain uniform adhesion to the food substrate during the stresses involved. During reconstitution in the oven or fryer, the coating should not develop voids or pockets along the interface. Such coating separations known as shelling should be avoided. Typical deep fat frying can cause poor adhesion due to shrinkage of the substrate away from the cooked, coagulated coating. Precooking of the food substrate by steaming, simmering or boiling has been shown to improve its adhesion properties for coating application. A number of ingredients have been found to increase adhesion including polyphosphates, modified breadings, yeast proteins, vegetable oils, oxidized starches and vegetable gums.
Even if a coated food has exceptionally good color, texture and crispness, weak flavor can yield poor taste and off flavors can be disastrous. Flavor can be the result of additives and seasonings which modify fixed recipes. However, flavor also depends on the method, time and temperature of cooking the composition and characteristics of the cooking oil and the type of supplemental breading. The method of cooking can greatly affect flavor. For example, deep fat frying of coated chicken produces a significantly better flavor than does microwave cooking. Solutions have been attempted by adding cooked chicken skin to the batter formulation to intensify desirable flavor.
Various known methods and processes have been presented to solve these coated food problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,601 presents a process for preparing a coating mix containing a fried component. A flour based batter is deep fried in vegetable oil and then these resulting particles are used as a component of a coating mix which is designed to impart fried taste, texture and appearance to baked food stuffs. The resulting compositions may be applied to poultry, meat, fish and vegetables prior to baking in order to impart a simulated fried appearance, taste and texture. The food stuffs contemplated for use are uncooked such as fresh non-frozen foods which are coated with the composition immediately prior to baking. For example, the food stuffs which are suitable for use are chicken pieces and cutlets, porkchops and cutlets, fish fillets and eggplant strips.
Frozen comestible products suitable for microwave or oven cooking which when cooked are similar or superior in texture and appearance to a fat-fried comestible product is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,603. The food stuff products are prepared by coating frozen portions of said products with an edible oil containing a moisture absorbing substance such as pregelatinized starch, and then applying to the coated portions finely divided hygroscopic, crisp particulate, such as toasted bakery, cereal or carbohydrate particulate, capable on cooking of giving the appearance of a fat-fried product. The problem faced by the patent is in the use of microwave cooking of such batter coated frozen comestibles is that they have high water content and lose substantial amounts of free water in the cooking step. During fat-frying, the temperatures of cooking are sufficient to drive the water off. However during microwave cooking, the cooking temperatures and time are less and the cook-out juices and moisture saturate the conventional breaded batter coating making it mushy and giving it the taste of flour paste.
Pregelatinized starch food coatings are taught by U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,646 wherein an edible amorphous film containing a pregelatinized starch is an essential ingredient of the coating. Food coatings are known and used in the art primarily as flavor vehicles which are readily noted by the consumer and enjoyed because of their obvious effect on taste and palatability. Less well-known are functional food coatings which impart little or no flavor, are not readily noticed by the consumer and are used primarily to improve functional characteristics of a food, e.g. retention of volatile flavor components, inhibition of spoilage or prevention of sticking together and the like. The use of pregelatinized starch is directed mainly to functional food coatings by providing a film, thus a smooth, non-tacky coating which simplifies the packaging and handling of normally tacky or sticky foods or foods which become tacky by absorption or moisture.
Numerous attempts have been made in the industry to reduce frying oil absorption. Modest reduction in the absorbed cooking fat level have been achieved by removing excess fat after deep fat frying. Typical excess fat removal processes comprise passing the fried product over a vibrating screen to allow the fat to drain off or to use high velocity streams of hot air. In addition, various methods of solvent extraction of the absorbed fat are known. Such solvent extraction methods are not commercially practical usually due to problems associated with residual solvents or with impairment of the products textural and flavor attributes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,583 provides fried foods of reduced oil absorption through preparation and employment of sprays of film forming agents. Comestibles are prepared by first providing a battered and breaded coated comestible. An aqueous solution of a film forming agent such as gelatin in certain starches is applied to the comestible. The starch coated comestible is then pan fried in an edible fatty triglyceride at conventional temperatures until the batter is set and coating browned as desired. The resulted fried foods are characterized by reductions in absorbed cooking fat of up to about 25%.
A parallel food processing and food product which requires the same elements of appearance, color and flavor as batters and breadings, is the production of roux.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,938 discloses a method for producing roux by drying flour until the moisture thereof is reduced to 0.5 to 10% by weight, adding fats and oil having a melting point of not more than 55.degree. C. and a weight ratio of flour/fats and oils being of 1/5 to 1/0.25 then heating the mixture at a temperature of 65.degree. to 130.degree. C. for five to sixty minutes. The patent further teaches heating a similar mix in a two cycled heating process after the first cycle cooling and seasoning with processed milk products, extracts, starch and the like of from 0.3 to 4 parts by weight relative to one part by weight of total amount of mixture of dried flour and fats and oils and subjecting the result of mixture to a second heating and mixing process. A primary object of the reference is to provide a method for producing roux which makes it possible to eliminate the problems of powdery or grainy texture and raw material odor. Several of the prior art teachings provide methods for producing roux however, the roux has odor of raw materials since the ingredients are not heat treated at elevated temperatures. Moreover, such roux has a problem that it turns pasty when cooked.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,824 which addresses a process for the production of a food base instantaneously dispersible in water also presents as an object to provide a suitable heat treatment combined with a suitable choice of starting materials as a method for producing an instantaneously dispersable water roux or food base. The reference further addresses the issue that the required properties of roux cannot be obtained by temperature cycles. Although as normally assumed that it is only the temperature levels at which the fat is held and the holding times which are important in the heat treatments of fats, it has been found that controlled cooling is also crucial. The reference addresses a food base with a requirement of a binding effect without forming lumps when boiling water is poured onto the food base. In addition, the food base or roux is required to be storeable and not to agglutinate at room temperature.
Dry mixture compositions, which typically contain thickening agents such as starch or flour together with flavoring and coloring agents are widely used to prepare gravies and sauces. In preparing a roux from such a dry mix, the dry mix is dispersed in cold water and the dispersion gradually heated to boiling with constant agitation to gelatinize the starch and thereby thicken the liquid to the desired extent. This process must be carried out with care in order to avoid the formation of lumps in the thickened product. A number of procedures have been suggested in order to avoid the formation of lumps in the prepared gravies and sauces using a dry mix composition. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,599 provides an improved dry mix composition for the preparation of gravies and sauces which contains a thickening agent, such as starch and/or flour, and maltodextrin, with the maltodextrin being present in the dry mix composition in an amount sufficient to provide a weight ratio of maltodextrin to thickening agent of at least 1:1.
A roux is a basic cooking ingredient used especially in French and Creole cooking as well as in Continental and Italian cooking and more recently, heavily relied upon by various fast food preparations. Roux is used for example, as a base for matting gravies, soups, sauces etc. In general, roux is made by cooking a mixture of flour and vegetable oil or other fat based substance until the desired cooked brown mixture is reached. In classical French cooking, the roux is made by mixing flour with melted butter. Various cookbook authorities define roux similarly for example, a generic term for various flour bindings. A roux is sometimes brown, sometimes white, according to the end use intended. If a thin sauce or gravy is required then, the amount of flour to oil is reduced. The color of the roux is gently brought to the desired shade by heating and stirring then the liquid ingredient by the recipe is added little by little and the sauce seasoned as desired and allowed to mellow. The drippings from a piece of roast meat is sometimes used instead of butter or cooking oils and fats thus, improving the flavor of the sauce if intended to be served with the roast.
Because fat is known to provide improved flavor consistency and mouth feel to foods, its use in certain food applications is highly desirable. For obvious reasons, concentrations containing a substantial proportion of fat or oil are generally not prepared in dry form. Advantageously, such concentrates are provided in tub configurations or the like similar to margarines. Although fat-containing concentrates in these forms provide a number of benefits in terms of convenience, stability and the like, their preparation generally involves expensive equipment and procedures. Heated mixtures of flour and fat used as thickeners in gravies, and as sauce bases and the like are known as roux. Flour and fat are combined in suitable proportions and amounts and heated for varying periods depending upon the type of roux desired. Preparation of conventional roux is time consuming and considerable care must be taken to avoid overheating and to achieve a smooth consistency.
The teachings of the prior art are generally concerned with methods for producing roux, gravies and sauces having smooth consistency being lump free when added to water or other cooking fluids. In addition, roux is prepared with various additives and flavorings in order to achieve end product gravies and sauces having desired taste and texture.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,145,705 and 5,206,0415 hereby incorporated by reference provide methods of producing fried flavor roux based product which adjusts the flavor intensity through a combination of heating, timing and quenching. Heating of a mixture of predried grain flours, flour mixtures or vegetable flours or equivalent products with a liquified shortening achieves various stages of caramelization which produce corresponding color changes. These color changes occur more rapidly as the temperature of the mixture increases. At the appropriate temperature and time combination, the caramelizing mixture is quenched in order to halt the caramelization reaction resulting in a particular roux base product having a fried flavor which is correlated to the roux base color. Such roux based products have been found to be dispersable with hot or boiling water or gravy sauces, soups and the like without the use of costly additives or flavor essence which can vary substantially from mix to mix.
The chip and snack industry represents another major food industry needing refinements including oil content reduction. At the present time, flavored coating for chips and snacks consist of a carrier such as whey, maltodextrin or some other inexpensive carrier. Flavors such as barbecue or ranch are added to the carder and applied topically to the chip. In this system, the adhesive properties of the carrier are very important because a certain amount of topical coating will fall off during handling. Also in this system, extra flavored material is added to overcome the taste of the carder, but add nothing to fried flavor since these products are generally fried in oil to achieve such fried flavor.
The present invention deals with the food chemistry of these roux based preparations which provide specific fried flavor, said flavors being correlatable to color. Upon extraction of oil from these roux based products, an essentially oil free dry powder food product having a definitive fried flavor also correlatable to color has been found which provides fried flavor powder food product having high adhesion properties for vegetables and meats alike. The substantially oil free dry powder food product having a definitive flavor is most suitable for interface, i.e. predust and batter applications as well as additives to breadings in the preparation of preprocessed foods and the like.
The present invention is directed to both functional food coatings as well as a flavor vehicle which provides the industry with extremely valuable benefits and advantages through improved functional and flavor characteristics of the predust, batter and breading which are added to food products thus utilizing the invention for improving the functional characterizations as well as flavor of the resulting end product consumer food item. Just as important, the final food product which is consumed by the public will be substantially oil free unless the product is further processed through fat frying. Fat frying is not necessary in view of the flavor enhancement achieved by the invention. Thus the present invention provides a method and a food product which not only provides functional adhesion enhancement of the food to the predust, batter and breading but provides a product which possesses for example, fried flavors, without the utilization of fat frying, the inventive products being achievable from fried flavor roux based materials from which the oil has been extracted.